


With Pictures in Frames

by DoreyG



Category: Justice League & Justice League Unlimited (Cartoons), Superman: The Animated Series
Genre: Community: comment_fic, Developing Relationship, Enemies to Lovers, Lex is Basically a Cat, M/M, Masturbation, Phone Calls & Telephones, Sexting, Slow Build, Snapchat, Trolling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-18
Updated: 2015-06-18
Packaged: 2018-04-05 00:13:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4158321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoreyG/pseuds/DoreyG
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"What is this?" He yells a few hours later, shooting into Lex's office through the... Mysteriously open window, huh, "why did you <i>send</i> me this? Are you <i>crazy</i>?"</p>
<p>"A phone," Lex drawls, turning in his chair in a way that somehow manages to be both utterly graceful and <i>unbearably</i> annoying, "for fun, and quite possibly. But the true question, I think you'll find, is <i>why</i> do you have me on your phone in the first place?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	With Pictures in Frames

**Author's Note:**

  * For [storiesfortravellers](https://archiveofourown.org/users/storiesfortravellers/gifts).



The first time it happens, and he knows he shouldn't have been flying and checking his phone _but_ , he almost crashes into a wall.

"What is this?" He yells a few hours later, shooting into Lex's office through the... Mysteriously open window, huh, "why did you _send_ me this? Are you _crazy_?"

"A phone," Lex drawls, turning in his chair in a way that somehow manages to be both utterly graceful and _unbearably_ annoying, "for fun, and quite possibly. But the true question, I think you'll find, is _why_ do you have me on your phone in the first place?"

His jaw drops open.

" _Exactly_."

"...It's a work phone," he manages to splutter, his body already obeying his subconscious and fleeing for the window as quickly as possible, "for work. _Never_ do that again!"

 

\--

 

He failed to remember, of course, that telling Lex not to do anything is much like telling a cat _not_ to climb up trees.

“What’s that?” Wally asks curiously, the next time his phone _pings_ and he’s left staring at the screen with red cheeks and a certain trembling feeling at the bottom of his stomach, “a snapchat? Who from? Let me see, let me…”

“ _No_!” He yells, and hits the off button so fast that the phone crumples slightly under the force of his touch, “it’s, uh, just a… Stupid picture, from a friend. Nothing particularly interesting, nothing to worry about, _nothing_.”

“Right,” Wally says carefully, takes a slow step back when he attempts a casual smile “…A friend, or a _girl_ friend?”

…He leaves, before he puts his fist through the side of the watchtower.

 

\--

 

He doesn't go to see Lex after that, because he's the _better man_ and not just because he's afraid of what he'd do, and for a few days there's silence. He's won, he's good, life is great, there's no need to worry, _yay_.

...And then he gets another, somehow filthier, snapchat at work.

He's so annoyed, _not_ flustered because there is absolutely _no_ reason to be flustered, that he's already taken a picture of his scowling face before Lois lifts her head from across the desk and spots him. He's so _frustrated_ , in an angry way and _not_ in... Any other way, that his finger is already hovering over the send button before he hears the delicate clearing of her throat.

He pauses.

Slowly raises his head, and looks at her arched eyebrow, "what?"

"Snapchatting at work, Kent?" She asks, pointedly, "honestly, I _know_ it's the latest craze but can't _anybody_ keep their personal and professional lives separate these days?"

...Ah.

It takes a few minutes of panicking in the toilets to get back to a reasonable state of calm again, but when he does he takes a long moment to stare resolutely at himself in the mirror and then sends back a picture of a hastily drawn frowny face with absolutely no sign of his identity on it.

He has no idea why that feels like a defeat, but he decides not to dwell on it for now.

 

\--

 

The fourth picture comes a day later, when he's on patrol. And, good god, he is getting _really_ tired of almost flying into buildings.

"You can't keep doing this, Lex!" He yells down the phone the _moment_ he finds a flat-topped building, "it's dangerous, and disgusting, and do you seriously _want_ me to fatally injure myself or something?"

"Yes," Lex offers at the other end of the line, sounding somewhat curious at his ire, "that's exactly what I want. Did you somehow... Misinterpret the terms of our relationship, Superman?"

"We _have_ no relationship!"

"You seem to think that we do..."

The man is _impossible_.

 

\--

 

It's not that he has a _crush_ on Lex.

No, good _god_ no. He isn't insane, or Bruce, or _both_. He knows exactly what Lex is, every slimy and obsessive inch of him, and knows every single reason why having any sort of attraction to him is a bad idea. He's psychopathic, borderline evil, people who feel for him have a higher than average chance of turning up _dead_.

It's just that...

Well.

Lex has sent him four pictures so far, and each one has been a masterclass in distraction. The first one was a picture of his abs, somehow perfectly sculpted despite his claims to have left the exertions of supervillainy far behind him. The second one was a picture of him in a full length mirror, wearing _nothing_ except a tiny pair of black boxers that somehow highlighted the sheer gorgeousness of the rest of him. The third one was a picture of his hip, artistically poking out of those boxers in a way that was obviously _meant_ to look lickable. The fourth one...

Well.

He stares, at the outline of Lex's hand inside his boxers, and bites his lip. _Pointedly_ sets the phone on his bedside table, in case of emergency, and clenches his hands in the sheets to avoid temptation.

He doesn't get much sleep that night.

 

\--

 

The fifth picture comes when aliens are invading.

He's tired and he's aching and he's scared and, yeah, when he looks at the picture he experiences the usual hot flush all over his skin but he just doesn't have _time_ for it right now. Before he can even think he's already holding up his phone, already snapping a picture of the alien _hordes_ \- all fangs and teeth and why can't more alien hordes be made up of fluffy bunnies who want to bring peace and love to the universe? - and sending _not now, Lex_ back to the source.

There's a long moment of silence, as he prepares to swoop back down to do his duty, and then a sharp beep in reply.

And... Okay, he wasn't expecting a picture of a clear blue sky with a somewhat understated _sorry_ attached. But he'll take it, he'll _definitely_ take it as a small smile quirks his lips and the alien hordes suddenly seem to shrink below.

Somehow, he's a lot calmer as he dives back in.

 

\--

 

After that, the aliens are fairly easy to defeat. With his head suddenly cleared, with the simple blue sky fresh in his mind, he's able to see their weak spot easily. Diana and John swoop in at his side, and from that point on it's largely a matter of clean-up.

When he gets back that night he's too tired to think. His phone lights up, yet another picture of _Lex_ , and he stares at it for only a moment before sighing low in his throat and taking himself in hand.

There'll be time for shame in the morning. For now there's only time for the picture of Lex on the screen, and his hand, and the thought of Lex so hot and ready around him.

 

\--

 

He expects it to be just that once.

Just once, just a shameful slip, just something brought on by too much tiredness and too little self-control. He's still not attracted to Lex, he still finds the snapchats an annoyance, he's still just... _Well_. 

But it keeps happening.

Late at night, lying in bed with his phone in front of him, he finds him wrapping his hand around himself. In early morning, the muzzy time before he has to get up to go to work or save a cat, he finds himself reaching for the screen and bringing himself to gasping ecstasy. After he gets home from work, before he has to go out on patrol, in the _shower_ with his phone balanced precariously on the toilet just within view...

It's when he finds himself in the Daily Planet toilets on his lunch break, one hand down his trousers and the other clutching his phone, that he realizes that he may have a problem. 

Oddly enough, he still doesn't want it to _stop_.

 

\--

 

It all comes to a head when Lex finally sends him a picture with his cock out.

Before they've all been explicit, certainly. Nothing safe for work, nothing that he'd show to his friends, _certainly_ nothing that he'd show to his ma... But all generally toeing the line. There is a damp spot at the front of Lex’s boxers, there is Lex’s head tipped back in ecstasy, there is Lex licking his fingers clean, _there_ \- but nothing beyond.

Until now.

He receives the picture, oddly enough, when he's halfway through one of his sessions after a long patrol. He looks at it for only a second, Lex's clever fingers _wrapped_ around the length of his cock, before letting out a gasping moan and snapping a picture of himself. A mirror, if you will - fingers wrapped around hard cock, slick precome coating the head.

He lasts for only a moment, after he sends it, and then comes yelling.

...And, gasping in the aftermath, thinks _ah_.

 

\--

 

Lex doesn't snapchat him for a day after he replies. Lex doesn't snapchat him for a week after he replies. Lex doesn't snapchat him for a _month_ after he replies and he feels like he's going mad, like he's done something wrong, like he's ruined _everything_.

And he should be happy, he knows. He should feel _great_. The annoyance is over, his life is back to normal, there are blue skies ahead and everything is _peachy_...

And yet.

...Well.

And _yet_.

 

\--

 

Two months straight of Lex not sending him a single snapchat, or text or phonecall or even a _look_ when they happen to come across each other in public, and he snaps. Is up in the air before he realizes it, and soaring over to Lex's office with not a thought in the world.

"What is your _problem_?" He snaps, bursting in through the window at full speed.

"What is my problem?" Lex asks, only allowing himself the briefest blink before rising to his feet and straightening his shoulders in his usual predatory manner, "asks the man who just _burst in through my window unannounced_?"

"Lex-"

"I'll be calling the guards now."

" _Lex_ ," he's in Lex's space in the blink of an eye, placing his hand over the other man's and staring at him earnestly, "Lex, please, this can't go on."

Lex only bares his teeth in reply, lifts his shoulders again. He's always tried to look like a predator, in situations like these - he's mildly surprised to find that it doesn't work anymore, " _what_ can't go on?"

"You-" he pauses for a moment, takes in a deep breath. He knows that he has to think clearly, but at present moment that just doesn't seem possible, "you can't just _do_ this. You can't just goad me to the point of no return, and then _stop_ like it was just a _game_."

"It was-" Lex spits, works his mouth silently for a few moments and then reluctantly looks away, "I can do whatever I like, Superman."

"You _can't_."

"Just watch me."

"Lex-"

"Go away."

" _Lex_ ," he takes in a deep breath, tightens his grip. The only acknowledgement that Lex, being Lex, gives is a slight tightening of his jaw, "what _is_ your-"

"Oh, _fuck_ it," and suddenly he's being kissed. So hard that his lips buzz with it, so thoroughly that when Lex draws back he finds his knees weak and his lungs ever so desperately gasping for air.

They stare at each other, for a long and dazed second.

" _That's_ my-"

He kisses Lex again, so hard that they stumble back against the desk before they can right themselves. He knows that he should stop, should flee so far that the earth is just a pinprick far behind him, and yet-

" _Lex_ ," he gasps.

Neither of them say anything for quite a while, after that.

 

\--

 

"We should talk about this," he says later, as they're lying naked on the office floor with Lex's clever fingers tracing over his muscles.

"Mm."

"Properly. With, like, flowcharts and tables and objective mediators."

" _Mm_."

"Lex?"

"Mm?"

"Kiss me again, please."

And his Lex smirks, just slightly, and does just that.

 

\--

 

The next day, about halfway through when he's finally managed to gather up the courage, he draws a picture of a smiley face and sends it to Lex before he can talk himself out of the idea.

It takes five minutes, five long minutes where he counts every single second, before his phone lights up in reply. But when it does, it's with a picture of a restaurant and an address carefully written out with a question mark at the end.

He sends another smiley face in reply.


End file.
